Stop Signs: Cars and Capitalism on the Road to Economic, Social and Ecological Decay

Author Yves Engler will be in California from June 12 to June 19 promoting his new book written with Bianca Mugyenyi. Stop Signs focuses on how cities have been remade based on the needs of automotive transportation. The book’s thesis is that the American obsession with cars is linked to corporate malfeasance, political intrigue, backroom payoffs, and media manipulation.

This anti-car volume states that when the dominance of cars is challenged, capitalism is challenged as well, no doubt fueling the fire of the idea that communist conspiracies are behind the various bicycle promotion schemes in Denver and elsewhere.

Engler is traveling on a Greyhound pass for his book tour. In a couple of hours, you can find him at the Bean Cycle in Fort Collins, CO. Tomorrow he’s in Albuquerque at a time and location TBD. June 12, you can find him at the Flying Pigeon in Los Angeles. June 19 puts him at the Humanist Community Forum at 11 AM in Palo Alto.

After that he moves up the coast through Corvallis, Seattle and Vancouver BC. He’s still looking for venues in California and elsewhere. If you own a shop or small bookstore or have a small event where he can set up for free, please leave a note here.

If you’re familiar with leftist ideology you’ll see this book cover plenty of familiar ground. If, on the other hand, you like to tout the economic benefits of bicycles to the state, be prepared to have your views challenged. Engler and Mugyenyi have an appealing writing style, but much of what they state will infuriate you as they pit the bike vs car debate in the framework of class struggle. They are unapologetically anti-car, favoring individual freedom over big business interests.